other, bear hugs, and locks. what have you learned? >> she even goes to bill karins. >> we need to call burke. >> all right, willie. who does vanderbilt play this weekend? >> florida. >> always playing tough? >> all playing tough. because let me tell you something, when you roll into the dud on a saturday night, all bets are off. it's way too early. what time is it, willie? >> it's "morning joe." see you monday. time for chuck. substance versus style. vice president joe biden brought the passion and eased the panic from the democratic debate. the smirks, the interruptions,

was he too amped up? congressman paul ryan thankfully no mention of big bird but a grover did come up. norquist, that is. and a tight race, could a third guy play spoiler? it's a potential issue and a handful of swing state. we're going to take a deep dive and talk to one of those potential po potential spoilers. good morning again. it's friday, october 12th, 2012. this is the daily rundown. i'm chuck todd. i have ted strickland, ron johnson, congressman from the same party who almost came to blows. that's going to be a little later in the show. let me get to our first reads before i get to the governor who is ready to go. vice president joe biden trying to calm down supporters, still upset over president obama's performance last week went with the kitchen sink approach.

congressman paul ryan embraced the do no harm strategy. joe for better and worse being joe. >> our adversaries are much more willing tomorrow bra embrace us >> with all due respect, that is malarkey. >> under a romney administer, we will have credibility under this issue. >> vice president biden. >> that's incredible. >> thank goodness we have these sanctions in place. >> oh, god. >> over 100 can criminal investigations have been launched. >> go ahead. >> martha, look -- >> and at one point the vice president seemed to even hold himself back from actually cursing. >> this is a bunch of stuff. >> what does that mean, a bunch of stuff?

>> it means it's simply inaccurate. >> it's irish. >> irish call it malarkey. >> ryan, of course, largely avoided taking the bait. he did push back at biden a few times including this little zinger. >> mr. vice president, i know you're under a lot of duress but i think people would be better served if we don't keep interrupting each other. >> the democratic base needed a shot in the arm and biden gave it to them, deploying several attacks that romney failed to use in just one minute of the debate. one minute. auto bailout, his statement that the foreclosure crisis could have run its course and the infamous 47% remark. take a listen to part of it. >> this shouldn't be surprising for a guy who says 47% of the american people are unwilling to take responsibility. >> romney is a good man. he cares about 100% of americans

in this country. and with respect to that quote, i think the vice president very well knows that sometimes the words don't come out of your mouth the right way. >> but i always say what i mean. >> we want everybody -- >> and so does romney. >> and never letting the audience forget who his real target was. >> governor romney said -- >> governor romney was asked -- >> governor romney says -- >> governor romney -- >> in the course of the debate, biden mentioned the president by name 22 times and ryan only 14 times. look at this exchange. >> he said -- >> you did ask for stimulus money? >> sure, he did.

>> we applied for constituents applying for grants. >> i love this. this is such a bad program that he writes me a program saying the reason we need stimulus, it will create growth and jobs. his words. >> though largely avoided being drawn into debates about the record, his views and records are different from romney and you could see he had difficulty squaring their policies on social security. ryan voted for a privatization bill in the past and there was this exchange on the abortion. >> he's argued that in the case of rape or incest it was still -- it would be a crime to engage in having an abortion. >> if you believe that life begins at conception, that doesn't change the definition of life. that's a principle. the policy of a romney administration is to oppose abortion with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the

mother. >> this debate featured a heavy dose of foreign policy thanks to abc senior policy moderator. biden struggled regarding the terrorist attack in benghazi and ended up contradicting the state department and, by the way, throwing the intelligence community under the bus with tire tracks. >> we did not know they wanted more security again and, by the way, at the time we were told exactly -- we said exactly what the intelligence community told us that they knew. that was the assessment. and as the intelligence community changed their view, we made it clear they changed their view. >> this is becoming more troubling by the day. they first blame the youtube video and now they are trying to blame the romney/ryan ticket for making this an issue. >> one of the few rabbit holes that ryan got sucked into was

afghanistan and though ryan proved that he had knowledge about the war, he wanted to commit more troops to an open-ended deployment in what is an unpopular war. >> we are sending fewer people to the front to fight them. >> that's right. because that's the afghan responsibility. we've trained them. >> not in the east. >> let's move -- let move to another war. >> not in the east? >> it's the most dangerous place in the world. >> that's right. >> you would rather americans being sent in to do the jobs. >> we are already sending more americans in to do the jobs. >> afghans to do the job. afghans to do the job. >> there were tense moments like that, including where biden came close to channelling lloyd benson's famous attack on dan quayle. >> you can cut tax rates by 20% and still preserve -- >> not mathematically possible. >> it is possible and it's been

done before. >> it has never been done before. >> it has never been -- >> jack kennedy lowered -- >> oh, be now you're jack kennedy? >> republicans and democrats have worked together on this. >> was that nervous laughter of the audience that you could hear? whol had to meet the threshold of competency and he did. biden scored points on substance. don't be surprised if we hear the most effective lines of attack from the president himself at next week's town hall-style debate in new york. the question is, how much was biden hurt on style. republicans did what they could to turn him into al gore, the eye rolls, sighs, that kind of thing. >> he reminded me of al gore in 2000 walking over and standing by president bush and getting in

his face. >> i don't know if he thought it was a joke but he was laughing a lot. >> it was bizarre. i thought it was belittling. >> when the other side is spending their time tweeting and going after eye rolls and smirks, they are losing the debate and everybody knows it. >> the problem for republicans with the gore narrative, al gore did something we had never seen him do. democratic base loved it. republican base clearly love hated it. the question is, how did last night play in the middle? ron allen spoke to undecided voters in virginia. here's how they reacted to it. >> he likes to kind of play it loose, i think, and he got a lot more serious as time went on. >> i think he came off as being very strong, emotional, and i like the looking at the camera and talking to the american people. >> vice president biden was being kind of immature, i

thought, with a lot of the smears and everything. >> i'm still undecided. i don't pay attention as much to the personalities. that's not as important to me. i like facts. >> in the instant poll taken after the debate, biden won divisive victory. 50% said biden won the debate and 31% said ryan. but ryan won a narrow victory in a cnn poll, matchup 48 to 44. it was only going to have a huge impact if ryan cleaned biden's clock and the focus will turn to the top of the ticket. romney watching from his hotel in north carolina. the president watched returning from florida on air force one and made sure to congratulate his number two when he arrived home. >> i thought joe biden was terrif terrific tonight. i could not be more proud. i thought he made a strong case. >> today the campaigning continues. biden is in wisconsin and mitt

romney is virginia before heading to ohio to meet up with paul ryan. let's get the reactions from both sides. cheering vice president biden, the happy warrior after his aggressive performance one that republicans are describing as condescending and disrespectful. look how the new york post put it. the contrast wasn't just between biden and ryan but between biden and president obama. the cover, vote for joe, vp shows obama how to debate. inside, smirky biden upstages his boss. with me, former ohio governor and former democratic ted strickland. did he show up the boss? >> no, but he showed up paul ryan and that's what i think is was important. he showed a lot of heart. joe biden in my judgment is not only a good public servant and good political leader but he's a

good human being. he cares deeply about this country and the people who have been left behind, the struggling middle class. that came across last night. >> i had a democratic say to me if you want the passion, you're going to get stuff that you don't like. it was some of the smirks and sort of overly gregarious emotion. are you in that camp? >> chuck, some of the same people criticizing the vice president for interrupting and smiling or they say smirking last night were the same people who were applauding mitt romney for being strong and for interrupting about a week ago. they can't have it both ways. i felt like the vice president was really strong. i felt like he was respectful to paul ryan. but he didn't let paul ryan get by with saying things that were absolutely inaccurate or even, in some cases, terribly untrue. and that was important. >> do you think paul ryan showed

up as fit for the job as a fair opponent? >> i think the vice president showed that he is ready to become president. i think there were some questions about paul ryan last night. he seemed to lack substance and he was unwilling or unable to be specific, even about his own plans. you know, in the past he said, i can't explain, you know, our budget and the tax issue because i don't have time. he had time last night and he still couldn't do it, todd. >> let me ask you this. one of the weaker moments for the vice president was his explanation on libya. do you feel like you've got -- as an american citizen, that you know that your government gave you the full story right away? >> no, chuck. but i believe my government is doing everything it can to uncover the truth through a thoughtful investigation. and when i think of libya, the

first thing that comes to my mind is the fact that when our people were under attack, the attack was ongoing. governor romney stood in front of the cameras and basically accused the president of sympathizing with the attackers. >> you're confident no politics played a role in the initial explanation? >> i see no political benefit from saying that there were politics involved. what could they have hoped to have accomplished by coming out with an he cexplanation that th felt was an explanation at the time. i see no political agenda. what's the reason for doing that? >> two polls in ohio, we had one at 6, one at 4, they are all showing the same thing. a narrowing gap. do you feel that on the ground? >> no. i feel great enthusiasm. let me he witell you, the presi

the vice president was not going to win ohio by eight points. it's going to be a very close election. >> and you think it's going to be close in ohio? >> i think it's going to be close but we're going to win. four years ago ohio voted 51 to 47, something like that. i'll take that this time. the fact is, the people of ohio know the president saved the american auto industry and all of the jobs, hundreds and thousands of jobs related to that industry and they are giving him credit for that and he deserves credit for it because mitt romney would have let the auto industry go down the tubes. >> well, i think they have a different -- i think they have a different way that they view of how they did that. ted strickland, i will leave it there. on behalf of the obama/biden ticket, thank you. we're having a little fun here. johnson and johnson.

i have the wisconsin senator ron johnson and former governor gary johnson. they will be on the show in a few minutes. cruel and unusual, a couple of ballots getting downright nasty. first, a look at the schedule. the president is in d.c. all day. has to fulfill a campaign dinner event. romney will be with ryan in ohio but also has a virginia rally. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] you like who you are... and you learned something along the way. this is the age of knowing what you're made of. so, why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing,

upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor. see if america's most prescribed ed treatment is right for you.

this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

i have never met two guys more down on america across the board. we're told everything's going bad.

5.2 million new private sector jobse jobs. we need more. if they get out of the way and let us pass the tax cut for the middle class and make it permanent. just get out of the way. stop talking about how you care about people. show me something. >> vice president biden tried to portray the democratic ticket as the defenders of the middle class. joining me now on behalf of the romney/ryan campaign, republican senator ron johnson. good morning. >> good morning, chuck. >> i want to see if you agreed with this lead in politico. welcome to the joe biden show, paul ryan. the well-behaved 42-year-old seemed look i can a spectator as the volume ubl vice president delivered a forceful, bordering bombastic counterattack against a surging gop ticket during

thursday's vice presidential debate. >> one thing was the rude performance by vice president. >> you thought it was rude? >> it was rude. and paul was nice and polite. it was paul. the vice president didn't have a plan as the president doesn't have a plan. both vice president biden and president obama have a real problem. they have empty trhetoric. for vice president biden, it was a tactic to appeal to their base, the occupy wall street crowd because he was trying to overcompensate for what -- you know, for president obama's poor performance a week ago. >> do you believe that the romney campaign has let paul ryan be paul ryan? >> absolutely. >> one of the things that we --

that they promised when ryan was brought on the ticket, that there was going to be some heart truths. what was a hard truth that you heard that you think the american people would be uncomfortable but had he to deliver it? >> right off the start, in terms of defending the budget, they want an offset on medicare bau president obama has passed a law that loots medical care to the current budget window to pay for the unpopular partisan health care law. that's a fact. it is paul ryan and governor romney that actually have a plan to save medicare for future generations without affecting current retirees. >> i want to show you some tapes. we had our group of undecided voters that were watching. let me play some reactions to paul ryan. >> i thought he came off confident but not as confident as vice president joe biden. i felt that he did -- once he felt attacked, he decided to attack back. >> i think he's ready to be vice president. i don't think he's ready to be a president. >> i think he definitely stood

his ground, even when vice president biden was being kind of immature, i thought. >> you heard sort of the gamut there. >> that's interesting. >> do you think -- i've heard this from other republicans, he was reserved and he didn't want to -- as one republican said -- suckered into a fight and go down rabbit holes. >> i think paul ryan was the one that looked more vice presidential or presidential than vice president biden. i was surprised that president obama came out and said that he was so proud, he should have been embarrassed. i realize it was the tactic to appeal to the base but it had no substance, has no plan, and that's what the american people really need to evaluate here. take a look at the last two years. first two years, the president had total control of congress. pushed through everything. we won.

that was their bravado. when he was finally faced with divided government, president obama has been unautomobile to accomplish anything, unlike the democratic legislature. >> all that blame, democrats of massachusetts wanted to pass legislation. is all of that blame on the president? do you guys in the republican conference take half that blame at all? >> the house is passing budgets. republicans are willing to be held -- >> it's a partisan line and you just said you don't like obama care because it was a partisan path. >> chuck, why hasn't the senate passed a budget in over three years? they can pass it. it only needs 51 votes. there are 53 senators. because they refuse to be accountable for the plan. no. the gridlock really is in harry reids senate. the senate has to pass a budget. then you present that to the president for his approval. but his last two budgets have been so unserious, they've been voted now three times in

congress. not a party's own member will vote. >> where are people in afghanistan on the war? i want to take a step back from what you heard last night. is there fatigue out there? >> listen, we are all war weary. we mourn the loss of every son and daughter of this country and mitt romney is dedicated also to, you know, withdrawing by 2014 but wants to do it actually listening to the military as posed to what president obama has been doing is making decisions for political reasons. >> in the military, don't you think they will keep them longer? >> i don't think the military will want to keep them longer. what the military wants is enough force to protect the troops still engaged in battle. that's the point that paul ryan was making last night. >> republican senator ron johnson, i know that you're heading back to wisconsin. how many miles are you going to do in the next two weeks? >> 3500 so far so 3500.

>> surprising news across the pond today. wait until you hear who won the peace prize. plus, debate fireworks. folks, it wasn't here in danville. it was a member race against a member race that actually almost became a brawl. you think we use boxing brawls too much in a debate? who was the last chief justice nominated to the supreme court by a democrat? tweet me the answer @chucktodd and @dailyrundown. the answer is coming up. we'll be right back.

well, joe biden and paul ryan waged a war of words. look at this. california congressional

candidates howard berman and sherman almost got into a brawl. they've been locked into a nasty and political race. they are both democrats. things reached a whole new level at a debate last night. look at this. >> when you get reality, see, he's either delusional or -- [cheers and applause ] >> the official records of congress. congress will prove you wrong. don't you stand up here in the west san fernando valley. you want to get into this?

[cheers and applause ] >> can you imagine? those two almost got into a brawl. congressman sherman has released a statement this morning saying he regrets the incident. yes, you did see a law enforcement official actually try to break those guys up. okay, a surprise announcement out of europe. the european winner is the winner of this year's peace prize for its role in peace and reconciliation and democracy in europe. it could be a morale boost. joining mow now is becky quick with the market rundown. >> oh. >> i have to say this was odd considering every day the european union and designificants they may or may not make impact the global

economy. by the way, the norwegians give it -- which means they are not part of the eu but we could go there fr there. becky, do the markets care about something like this. >> this is a head scratcher. this has gotten our attention. i understand the theory behind this. yes, original 60 years ago when the eu began, this was part of an ex spearment to try and get over the massive devastation that the two world wars on the couldn't tent caused for all of these countries. the thought was linking them together fiscally, they would have too much riding on each other's success. but the timing for this, well, that is the weird part. remember, just this week, angela merkel -- germany's chancellor made her first trip to greece since the whole crisis erupted and they greeted her there with molitaf cocktails.

so the idea that this is bringing people together, sure. during good times when everybody was succeeding, it was bringing people together but right now we see things fraying and fraying in a very bad way. the nobel peace prize committee thought maybe this would boost the chance of success of keeping the eu together. but i was watching the headlines, more comments have been coming out. germany is saying, forget it, we think it's way too early to give greece more time to meet its budgetary and slovania prime minister said, there won't be any devastating consequences if they got kicked out of the eu. nice thought. don't know if it's going to work. >> maybe if norway joined the eu or maybe they will give the prize money to greece. >> yeah. they could use it. >> thank you much. up next, spoiler alert.

we're taking a deep dive into whether some third-party candidates could change the outcomes in some battleground states. the daily rundown will be back in 30 seconds. it's been 160 years since the u.s. has had a president that wasn't either a republican or democrat and that was willard filmore. of course, that third party, the republican, became one of the two major parties.

no actual third party candidate has won since. but that hasn't stopped them from trying and although their track record of victory is zero, a handful of nonmajority candidates have imagined to impact presidential races. there was ross perot and he wasn't thinking spoiler. he was actually thinking victory. a gallup poll at one point had him ahead of incumbent bush and a man by the name of bill clinton by 14. he left the race and returned in october for the debates and it's the second time that an independent candidate had participated. >> what separates me is that 5 1/2 million people came together on their own and put me on the ballot. i was not put on the ballot by either of the two parties or any pac money, any foreign lobbyist money or interest money. this is a movement that came from the people. >> on election day, nearly 20%

of the vote, best showing since the progressives nominated eddie roosevelt 38 years ago. bill clinton won the vote. the same year, ralph nader launched a write-in campaign. nader's best showing was in 2000 when he received 2.9 million votes. gore won the popular vote that year. in florida, nader got over 97,000 votes. i would say that was enough to make up for the 537,000 gap that made up the race for george w. bush. some people called him a spoiler but nader hated the term. he blasted "the wall street journal," believe it or not, for using such a political bigoted word. he argued that candidates shouldn't be treated as second-class citizen. earlier this year, ron paul made a run for the republican

nomination finishing second in multiple primaries before dropping his bid. he gave hope to some other candidates trying to pick up the third-party mantel. they could have an impact where voters may be dissatisfied. former congressman is on the ballot in eight of the nine battleground state. jill stein is on the battle in seven of them. and if you live in nevada and don't like any of the candidates, you can vote none of the above. but the best opportunity to impact this race may belong to the libertarians and the former governor for new mexico, gary johnson. cnn orc poll last month found johnson polling 3% of the voters nationwide. the chairman of the rnc, reince priebus, says he's not worried about a gary johnson. >> well, understand that they

are not going to throw their vote away when we have an election here that's about the future of the america. i just don't see that happening. in fact, i see that it's almost a nonfactor. and so i -- i'm not worried about it. >> with me now, former new mexico governor and a republican when he was governor in new mexico, gary johnson. governor johnson, good morning. >> chuck, great to be with you. thank you. >> let me ask you this. what are you advocating that you don't think is being advocated by either president obama or mitt romney? >> let's not bomb iran, let's get out of afghanistan tomorrow, bring the troops home, marriage equality, that it's a constitutional right. i would have never signed the defense authorization act. balance the federal budget now. eliminate income tax, corporate tax, abolish the irs and replace that with one federal consumption tax which i think

really will create tens of millions of jobs given a zero corporate tax rate environment. >> well, you made that fairly easy. you ticked down that. but you can go into the details on this. as you know, a lot of those things could get accomplished given the two party duopoly in congress. but many of the issues that you're advocating are positions one or the other holds. so marriage equality, the obama/biden ticket is tfully supportive of that. balancing the budget now you say there is a big chunk of the republican party that advocates that. a lot of your views are being represented, though all just not in the same party. is that a fair statement? >> i think so but maybe not a fair statement from the standpoint that i think both parties give lip service to, for example, democrats give lip service to no military intervention when the reality

is, continued military intervention. republicans give lip service to a balanced budget but, gentlemen gee, let's do it in 28 years and factor in growth to make that happen and both parties are debating on who is going to spend more money on medicare when medicare is a budget buster. we need to engage in mutual sacrifice to save this country and medicare is something that has to be cut. it's a benefit that you and i put $30 into and receive $100 benefit. by extension, we put $30,000 into a benefit that we're receiving $100,000 benefit. it's not sustainable as so many things are right now with government. >> let me ask you this. are you comfortable with the fact that you could swing, say, colorado when i think about libertarian, particularly in the west, has always had an out sized appeal versus the east coast. so let's say in colorado president obama wins 48-47, you nab 5% of the vote and we see in

our exit polls that 80% of your supporters would have voted romney had there only been two choices there. are you comfortable with that? >> five states have put that to the question. in new mexico, colorado, and in nevada, i take more votes away from obama. north carolina, michigan, i take more votes away from romney. most important of all is a voice for what i think saves american, is a voice for all of the issues that do face this country that both political parties have their head in the sand over. last night's debate, the debate last week, which tastes better, coke or pepsi? >> and what are you? >> man, i'm perriet. i'm sparkling water. >> all right. i've got to leave it there. i've got to say, i was very impressed with how quickly that

litamy rig litany at the top. >> i want everybody to waste their vote on me and i'm the next president of the united states. >> fair enough, governor johnson. thanks for coming in this morning. the vp debate is in the books. i am a panel here toll look at the chapter in the next race. first, soup of the day, the president is there. do you think he likes coconut crab? i guess. he's hawaiian. wouldn't be my favorite. we'll be right back. after working on the computer all day, you'd think i want to stay away from it at night. truth is, i like to stay connected with friends. but all that screen time can really dry me out. so i use visine. aah. it revives me, so i can get poked, winked, and -- ooh -- party all night long. only visine has hydroblend -- a unique blend of three moisturizers that soothe, restore, and protect to keep me comfortable for up to 10 hours.

pirate party, here i co-- uh, honey? visine with hydroblend. find it in these visine products.

[ male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about. so i introduced jill to crest pro-health for life. selected for people over 50. pro-health for life is a toothpaste that defends against tender, inflamed gums, sensitivity and weak enamel. conditions people over 50 experience. crest pro-health for life. so jill can keep living the good life. crest. life opens up when you do. last night's debate was scranton joe versus think tank ryan. old hand versus young gun and the 90 minutes the candidates were on stage, voters got a

healthy dose of the vice president's favorite phrases. >> he's been my friend -- my friend -- i love my friend here. why does my friend cut out the tuition tax cut for them, the middle class tax cut. the middle class restore them. the middle class. the middle class. >> let's bring in our panel. perry and political editor for the grio.com. my partner in crime, mark murray. we are the last five people in danville, apparently. susan page, let me run down the list. usa today does this as well. middle class 23 time, my friend or my friends, 15 times, loose talk, 3, malarkey three times, a bunch of stuff, stuff was code for something else, one time.

i have a democrat who says if you want passionate joe, you have to take some of the stuff thaw don't like. >> he did what the democrats needed him to do which is to reand sure that there's still a fight going on. i'm not sure his performance works that well with people in the middle who are comfortable with partisan warfare. but those discouraged about the debate with president obama, this was a shot in the arm. >> perry, that's an important point. one of the reasons why romney scored so well in this debate was not just being assertive but he kept being -- he kept talking about bipartisanship. you can have a debate about whether it's true or not and the ideological splits between the two party but his tone was very bipartisan. boy, this is the ex act opposite. >> biden walked in trying to fire and motivate democrats who were disappointed. everything i saw on twitter, everyone i've talked to since then is that he fired up the

base. i'm not sure he helped with swing voters but i'm not sure that he tried. the president comes in next week to get the swing voters. >> everybody has made a comparison, just not everybody has said it. this was david brooks this morning, he called it a generation war. it was the honeymooners versus family ties, he had norton versus alex keating. what we was wasn't only an argument about policy t was a look at different eras. >> i think he reassured some folks. he passed the bare minimum test. it was the minimum that they needed to do. biden needed to give the shot in the arm. ryan needed to pass the competence test but i don't think either one of them got a knockout blow or anything like that and it was a setup for next week, what a lot a of us expected and not that much of an impact on the overall race. >> i have to play this, it tells

you everything about how people reacted to this debate. >> i think he came off as being very strong, ee mowing nal, and i liked the looking@camera aloo the camera. >> i thought there were smears and everything. >> i'm guessing we found one obama voter and one romney voter. it was like, that's the way democrats saw one thing, democrats saw another. >> even having joe biden win the cbs but not by a huge margin and then the cnn poll among all voters, paul ryan had the advantage. it was almost a split decision, not only in that focus group but also the insta-polls. democrats loved it, republicans didn't. people are split and i think that's your verdict. >> speaking of focus groups, we get the sense that the obama

campaign is going to be effective? >> i think joe biden gave them a road map. abortion was a hit on romney and ryan. it was almost like obama was a little too cold the first debate. joe biden was was hot and goldi might come. >> he has to find goldilocks. stick around because this was not the feistiest debate of the night. i'll give you nasty, go to arizona. who was the last chief justice nominated to the supreme court by a democrat? it's chief justice fred vincent or as he is known here on campus dead fred. vinson was appointed to the high court by president harry truman is an iconic college alum. they take his portrait to every home football game and other big events on campus. dead fred was there for the

first thrill in the ville back in 2000 and was there last night perched on a ledge high above the hall next to john yang for that one. who is fred, baby? fred's dead, baby. i'm only in my 60's... i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses,

i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now.

there you got a taste of what is now the nastiest senate race in the country. i didn't think we knew it was in arizona till 24 hours ago. let's bring back the panel. mark murray, you and i watched that ad yesterday with carmona. you don't see an ad like that not even every cycle. >> we know arizona is a competitive race. it wasn't two months ago, maybe not two weeks ago. joseph flake has to be worried to drop an ad like this. by far this is the toughest ad i've seen this cycle. >> susan, it does seem as if carmona, when you see this ad, not well known, it's a risky proposition. you can go too far, could backfire, but could define him. >> he's got to respond. >> he did respond. >> it tells us who the voters

who matter this year, it's women. >> no doubt. perry? >> yes. this has been a very interesting race. the ads we are seeing are much tougher in these houses than in the presidential race. >> do you think they need to break through and that's the issue? >> absolutely. you remember jim mussina was promising to be big at the presidential level. >> that's not happening. >> my son jethro turns 5 next week. love you. >> home state kentucky hosted a great debate yesterday. >> jason worth kept the nats in the playoffs. go nats. >> my texas longhorns play ou saturday. >> i remember when that game used to mean something. >> it means something to me, chuck. >> everybody has a loss in that one. that's it for this edition of the "daily rundown." canes, beat the tar heels.

see you from bc. next chris jansing. bye-bye. by bright eyes

you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen.